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particle board stair tread problem

04-15-2008, 02:14 PM

My sister has a newer home and the stair treads are bullnose particle board that was glued down to the stringer. The house is on a lake and the particle board has mold from damp feet on the carpet that was originally put down. We wish to put something down to replace them but the mess of pulling them up, when they were glued down is a concern and the bullnose edge is a problem to cover with laminate, etc. Any ideas? Thanks for the help.

Comment

Take out your risers first (they shouldn't have any adhesive), you can cut and pry them out, then try to gut under the tread with a long blade. If no success, then try to take them off with a chisel. But cut out the tread section close to the stringers so you can really look at what your doing. Be careful with hitting nails with your chisel.....

Great Link for a Construction Owner/Tradesmen, and just say Garager sent you....

appreciate the tips. any ideas of how to pull up the treads if we went with oak or tried to cover the old ones with a laminate or similair product?

Hello Tellittojake,

I recently ran into a similar problem and was forced to improvise.

What worked for me was to take a flush-cutting (jamb-type-saw) by Bosch and cut the sides of the treads (where it meets the stringers on both sides) right until the blade touched the risers. Then take a circular saw and cut the bullnoses off.

It took just a little bit of sanding to get the agle where the tread meets the risers to get to a "true" 90*....but it worked out just fine!

Garager and the other guys gave a few good tips that would be useful in the event that you decided to simple clean and prep' the stairs...but if you are dead-set on putting going with the laminate then cut the noses off...and then follow the instructions on prepping/cleaning/treating them...

Just a suggestion...

P.S. Whats going on Garager? How are things over at the Pub? I will more than likely stop through tomorrow after work...

...the wifes been on me about drinking during the work-week!

(Lookin' through a family photo album with a friend)

"....yeah...so...there's my mom, and next to her is my baby brother Jason...and the guy right there holding Jason...yeah...him...the one with only one hand is my uncle Tony "Tablesaw" Thomas.....guess why we call him "Tablesaw"....

Comment

My apologies, as I was reading my post, I realized that I was confusing "bull-nosed" with your standard "stair nosing" which can be cut off when installing hardwood over them...again...my apologies!

(Lookin' through a family photo album with a friend)

"....yeah...so...there's my mom, and next to her is my baby brother Jason...and the guy right there holding Jason...yeah...him...the one with only one hand is my uncle Tony "Tablesaw" Thomas.....guess why we call him "Tablesaw"....

Comment

This is a little off-topic, but I couldn't find another thread about stairs. I ripped out some filthy old carpet on my stairs, and I would like to make the switch to hardwood treads with painted risers. The current stairs are solid, 2inch thick pine treads with skirting on both sidewalls (downstairs run). Can I use adhesive and countersunk screws (with wood plugs) to attach oak treads over this existing tread, or do I have to remove them and replace with new treads? This is a high traffic area and I don't want new carpet because of allergies and asthma in my household. Any advice would be helpful.

Comment

This is a little off-topic, but I couldn't find another thread about stairs. I ripped out some filthy old carpet on my stairs, and I would like to make the switch to hardwood treads with painted risers. The current stairs are solid, 2inch thick pine treads with skirting on both sidewalls (downstairs run). Can I use adhesive and countersunk screws (with wood plugs) to attach oak treads over this existing tread, or do I have to remove them and replace with new treads? This is a high traffic area and I don't want new carpet because of allergies and asthma in my household. Any advice would be helpful.

Your very first tread will be to high, if you plan to go on top of old treads. Also, then when you get to the top of the stairs, you'll have to raise your floor to meet that height, threw out the entire upstairs. Tear out your old ones and replace. You have to stay with codes when there are stairs involved for sure. No rise can be greater then 8"s and no tread can be less then 9"s and no rise can be less or more then 3/8' with all of them. The 3/8" is an important factor, believe it or not, you'll feel the difference in height which may make a person stumble and fall...

Lets say you existing height is 8" (this is just an example with the #'s), all the rest of them has to stay with in 3/8". Not to have one tread to be 8 3/8" and another to be 7 5/8" that would be 3/4" different. You may have known this and I just wasted my time. Or you may have just learned this and thats a good thing. Sometimes its just easier to replace, even though its a tough and expensive job.

Great Link for a Construction Owner/Tradesmen, and just say Garager sent you....